Awake and Alive
by Marauder Athene
Summary: (Will change to M if I write a second chapter) Peggy Carter is willing to risk her own life to see Steve again. Steggy fluff. Set after Avengers.


**Birthday drabble for Katie-bug! She LOVES Steggy. So enjoy the fluff! If I get enough encouragement, I might write a second chapter with uhh... more than fluff. ;-) But till then! Here you are!**

The plane was going down. Steve knew this. He needed to say something... He needed to say something to Peggy. Something that would convey his feelings somehow. He was never really good at that...

"Peggy..."

"I'm here."

"I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance."

"Alright," She says through tears, knowing that they'll never be able to keep the date. "A week next Saturday at the Stork Club."

"You got it."

"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?"

"You know, I still don't know how to dance."

"I'll show you how. Just be there."

"We'll have the band play something slow. I'd hate to step on your-" There's a crackle of static and she knows he's gone. Her failing heart makes her speak however.

"Steve?" Overcome with sadness, she breaks down.

A week next Saturday at the Stork Club, a woman in a lovely red dress slowly walks in and sits at a two person table right by the window. Peggy gets many offers for a dance or a drink, but she knows the one person's arms she wants to be in will never be there. She just stares out the window after ordering a drink for herself. She sighs, 'Steve...' His name goes over and over in her mind, but she doesn't let her lips speak a word. Peggy goes over in her mind what she's going to do now, but everything seems halfhearted and empty. The only thing she wants to do is cry and sleep.  
>Halfway through her drink, she has a strange idea... What if-? No. She'd never have the means. But... Stark. Maybe. She breathes in and gets up in her last hopeful cry for help.<p>

"Howard?" Peggy walks into his workshop to find him drinking a glass of whiskey and looking depressed. 'I suppose they were closer than I thought.'  
>He looks up and blinks. "Peggy. Hi." His words sound empty and sad. "What can I do for you?"<p>

"I..." She wasn't sure how to ask this... But she had to try.

She says her proposal and Howard smiles gently. "I wish that he would come back... But hope isn't healthy in this case." He sighs. "But, if this is what you want to do, then I'll help."

"Thank you. Shall I leave you to it? Or do you want to finish your drink?"

"I'll finish my drink. That way when I wake up with a hang over, I'll see the work I've done and be inspired to finish without being clouded by other things I would have thought while working. Heh." He takes another drink and points to her. "You go get some sleep and I'll get back to you in the morning."

"I probably won't sleep, but I'll take a walk and check back later." She leaves and starts a very long walk. The kind that you don't realize it took all night until you see the sunrise. The ones where you get lost in your thoughts, however terrible and sweet they are. But these ones were filled of shameless hope.

"Listen, if this works... Give him my best."

Peggy smirks "I think my best from you would be to make sure he doesn't die a virgin." She blushes at her own boldness but laughs at her joke. It may be the last time she'll laugh... No, it's not right to think like that. She has to have hope.

Howard cackles and helps her into the pod. "Good luck, ma'am. You'll be missed."

"I'll miss you too. Maybe you'll still be alive."

He laughs again. "Maybe. Hey," He steps closer with a smirk. "If this IS the last time I'm gonna see you, how about a kiss before you go?"

Peggy smiles sadly and grabs his chin, turns it to the side and plants a sweet kiss on his cheek. "That's all you get, Stark. Now, please send me off before I change my mind. Or someone finds out..."

Howard sighs. "I'm gonna get in trouble for this, so is it ok if I blame in on you?"

"It WAS my fault," She winks. "I never told you if I was cleared or not."

He smiles sadly himself. "So now, without further ado..." He presses the button and the machine steams to life. As soon as it closes in, ice forms on the glass surrounding the woman.

Steven Rogers' eyes blink open. He looks around at the comfortable sight of a hospital and the calming sound of a radio. He sits up slowly and takes inventory of his senses and body. He expected to wake up cold considering what his last memory was, but he was quite warm and clean.  
>He listens harder to the radio and feels something off... A nurse walks in. "Good morning. Or should I say afternoon."<p>

"Where am I?"

"You're in a recovery room in New York."

His ears make his brain move back to the radio. A baseball game was playing... He knew this one...  
>His anger grew. "Where am I really?"<p>

The nurse became nervous. "Captain Rogers..."  
>Some soldiers run in and Steve takes them out easily. He runs outside and sees a New York he doesn't recognize...<p>

After being introduced to a new world and settled, the SHIELD director Nick Fury gives him a job to do.  
>After chaos reigns over New York and is sorted with no little ease, Tony Stark, a spitting image of Howard, comes to see him.<p>

"Hey, Capsicle. I've got a question for you."

Steve sighs with a smile. "Yes Stark?"

"Did you know a chick named Peggy Carter?"

Steve's eyes close with the sudden pain of the loss. "Yes." He says quietly. "Why?"

"Cuz I'm pretty sure we got her on ice."

His head snaps up. "What do you mean?"

"As in cryogenics. My dad froze her with a note saying "To Steve. Give her my best." I guess he figured it would be awhile before she'd come out. And uhh... I don't want to get your hopes up too high... She may not wake up. It WAS tech from 70 years ago. I'm surprised she's even that well preserved."

Steve walks purposefully toward Tony and looks very passionate when he says: "Get. Her. Out."

The setting is almost as Frankinstein's monster, the capsule on a metal table and heaters surrounding it from above. "Cap... She doesn't have your genetics... You were strong enough to survive, but-"

"She's strong enough. She has to be." Steve paces around the table, just taking in her lovely face and hoping...

After much yelling and flipping of switches, Tony figures out the pod from his fathers drunk handwriting and is able to unfreeze it. But new problems arise as they have to get her out and get her warm again and her heart beating.

Peggy Carter's eyes blink open. She looks around and sees a strange sort of hospital. She feels a warmth on her hand and she soon realizes that someone is holding it. She looks down and sobs out, unable to hold it in. "Steve!" Her voice sounds dry and gravely, but it's enough to wake him up.  
>Cap's head snaps up, a red mark imprinted on one side of his face and his eyes still filled with sleep. "Peggy! Are you alright?"<p>

She struggles to sit up and pushes his arm away when he tries to get her to lay back down. She wraps his arms around his shoulders and kisses him full on the mouth, harder than the first time, but more filled with passion.

Steve freezes for half a second and eye go wide with surprise, but then melts into her mouth with a surprising and unwilling moan. He blushes but wraps his arms around her as well. She pulls away and smiles up at him through tears. "Oh Steve... I knew you were alive."

He smiles back. "And I knew you were strong enough to get... unfrozen." He smiles wider. "And as soon as you're better, that club you mentioned is still around. I still owe you a dance."

Peggy sobs a laugh. "Of course." Steve strokes her cheek with the blush still on his face. She blushes herself. "If you want to lay next to me, you're welcome to do so."

His smile fades just in confusion. "Would that be appropriate?"

"Quite frankly, I don't care at this point." She says shortly. "I don't want you to be any further from me than necessary."

He smiles again. "I feel the same." He climbs in bed with her and wraps his arms around her. He didn't particularly know what he was doing, but by the way she seemed to be dropping back to sleep with a smile on her face, he figured he wasn't doing too bad. He closes his eyes as well and falls asleep with her to leave this new time and world for another day. He was so ready to see it with her.

**Again guys, if I get enough love, I might be convinced to make the next scene quite naughty. ;-)**


End file.
